Take It Or Leave It
by BeckyLynch'sTheme
Summary: Bar fights, lousy tips and cheesy pick-up lines. Welcome to the world of Jenn Haruno. That is, until it all changes. Short ONE-SHOT PREQUEL to 'Lady & The Shield'.


**A/N: Hey guys :) As mentioned, this is just a short prequel to 'Lady & The Shield' - hope you enjoy it!**

Jenn Haruno ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.

It was a tough day.

She took another sip of her beer and surveyed the dim-lit bar she was in. It was full of guys drowning their sorrows, or with a girl on their lap, smirking arrogantly at their friends and full of women dressed in the bare minimum, sat on old furniture. Jenn was glad to be blended into the crowd, just pretty much hidden away from them as she was. She wanted minimal attention drawn to her.

It wasn't as if Jenn wasn't a sight for sore eyes, the opposite in-fact. She was quite a natural beauty. With smooth, creamy-porcelain coloured skin, her cheek-bones were high and prominent; her lips were rosy; dark hair thick, soft and sleek – but her eyes… Her eyes were ones to draw people in; they were an astonishing mix of grey and blue.

But on that Saturday night, Jenn would keep her head down and try to avoid any attention – she was no stranger to it after all with the attention guys would give her, no matter how much she'd avoid them. Jenn swigged her beer bottle around in a circular motion slowly, watching the liquid swish around. Her heart had broken and her inner- self had deflated when she fully acknowledged that it really just wasn't the time to pursue becoming a medic. It would take a lot of time after all and time was something she just didn't have.

She needed work and she needed to work quick, earning as much money she could. Her mother had finally left their useless father but this meant they would struggle for money. Being the eldest sibling, the responsibility fell on her shoulders. Well, she was a twin to her brother and she refused that he gave up becoming a physiotherapist. After stubborn arguing, he finally gave in. Well, she didn't really mind but it was still kind of a burden. She would aid her mother in supporting their family and she was kind of happy she could, even if it was stacking shelves or serving openly perverted customers.

Jenn's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard a cry.

She turned her head and saw a girl, no older than her, struggling but helplessly so against a guy that looked like he was in his forties, who had grabbed her wrist.

He was a pretty brawny guy, the type you would avoid making eye contact with. His dark hair was ruffled and was wearing a black wife-beater and a chain around his neck. He was unshaven and his yellow teeth were bared as he sneered at the pretty girl, who pleaded he let go of her.

He clearly intimidated everyone else in the bar, because no-one dared to defend the poor girl. Not even her father, Jim the bar-owner, who whimpered helplessly behind the bar, his old and small size sure to not be able to help his daughter. They instead watched the situation unfold.

'Come on now, I've been asking for you all night, the least you could do is talk to me instead of avoiding me like you have. Even when I kept calling you over,' the man growled at the pretty girl, refusing to let her go.

'Please, I have to serve other people, please let me go!'

The girl looked as though she was about to burst out crying.

A tipsy man behind the two chimed in.

'Come on Gene, let the girl go... It's time to go home', he chuckled, obviously finding the scene amusing.

Gene looked at the girl for a second and then smirked.

'Look Claire, why don't you just be a good girl and come home with me?'

Before Claire could let her disgusted reaction answer him and Jim protest to the ridiculously drunk and perverted man, Gene felt a small finger tapping on his back. He saw a woman in a leather jacket with a beer bottle in her hand. She seemed 5'6'' or so, which seemed tiny to his huge stature.

Confused at his interruption, he watched, alongside the rest of the bar, as she took her jacket off casually that left her in her black sleeveless top and throw her head back as drank her beer in one go, before locking eyes with Gene tiredly and almost fearlessly with a hint of annoyance.

She then did something that sent shock waves through the whole bar.

She smashed her beer bottle on his head.

Gene immediately staggered back from the powerful and hard impact, letting go of Claire who ran to her father. Gene clutched his pounding head as blood trailed down his forehead. He looked up furious and before he could say or do anything, he felt a small but hard fist from the side, pretty much breaking his jaw. Blood spurted out as his head snapped to his right. A literal breath-taking punch was then hit on his stomach and he keeled over. The woman then grabbed his neck and slammed his face on a table, the one where his tipsy friend was but he was long gone, terrified by the beating Gene was taking. The table cracked and finally gave out from the ridiculously hard impact of the man's head, the legs snapping in too.

Gene was nothing but a drunken mess in a heap of old wooden parts, pretty much out cold.

The woman, Jenn, panted, her chest heaving and a light perspiration on her smooth forehead. She looked around and finally acknowledged shocked and gob-smacked looks the men had on their faces, their mouths slightly open. They had even stopped drinking and the women in their men's laps or just at their tables,were captivated by what had unfolded. It was as if the men and women weren't aware of her existence or presence in the bar despite being there nearly every night until she beat the crap out of one of the most aggressive regulars that night.

Hey eyes fell on Jim and Claire, who were still holding on to each other for dear life. Jenn sighed and squatted down next to Gene. She casually went through his pockets finally finding his wallet and pulled out numerous dollar bills, leaving him with almost nothing.

She walked over to them.

'For the damage', she said softly before putting the money down she knew was too much but they could use anyway.

Jenn then grabbed her jacket before finally heading towards the door. She was glad when she overheard someone finally having the common sense to call the cops to pick up another drunken idiot who was causing a scene. Her night was over and she would carry on tomorrow like any other day.

What she wasn't aware of, however, was the three pair of eyes, watching her from a distance, that had their eyes fixed on her from the second she had got up from her stool.

* * *

It was a sunny day Sunday afternoon. A light breeze was in the air but there was some warmth from the rays of the sun. This made the day seem quite pleasant.

But it was Sunday afternoon.

Which meant there was probably a late Saturday night.

This meant hangovers.

Which meant getting out of bed late.

Which then meant brunch, rounded off with multiple grumpy customers at a certain restaurant.

And who was the lucky person that was to deal with these people?

None other than Jenn Haruno.

Turns out, the waitress job she had applied for amongst other hundreds of jobs, needed her desperately as they were running short of staff. And so here she was at Miso, forever pulling down the hem of her ridiculously short skirt that was just about mid-thigh as if it was miraculously going to reach her knees. It seemed senior management were keen that waitresses had short skirts and the waiters relatively attractive. The constant cases of subtle sexual assault quickly made Jenn understand the lack of staff – heck, she didn't blame them.

Though the pay was decent, she always cherished her break and made the most of it. In fact, when she looked at the watch on her wrist, she only had 2 minutes or so until she had hers for that day.

'Hey sweetheart, wanna take our orders?', a Missouri accent drawled out.

Jenn locked eyes with a man who was grinning at her. She didn't miss the way he and the other guy at his table, were looking at her long shapely legs in her black heels up and down. She looked away from them, clearly embarrassed by the attention she was getting, and not exactly in a good way. If anything, she wanted the ground to swallow her up there and then. Jenn finally looked back at the men. Both shared an amused look realising she uncomfortably noticed them checking her out and smirked at her.

The other guy at the table, was dark-haired and looked Filipino/Greek. He was leaning forward with his elbows perched up on the table, left hand on top of the other, his tattoos poking out of his arm in his white t-shit.

The one who had spoken to her had a buzz cut and well taken-care-of facial hair; he was also leant forward in his chair playing with something mindlessly in his hand with his arms across the table. He was dressed in a crisp, short sleeved shirt. They were both quite good-looking. Their muscular build, despite being in a shirt and t-shirt made it a dead give-away that they were wrestlers. And they weren't any wrestlers - they were WWE's Legend Killer and Animal.

Jenn reached for her notepad and pen in her skirt pocket.

'Uh, yes. What would you like to order?', She wasn't about to act starstruck any time soon so she remained her professional, neutral self.

'How 'bout your company?', Batista flirted with his oh-so-natural charm.

Jenn blinked at her notepad. She hadn't really expected that. Damn, he was blunt.

'Uhm…'

'I think what my friend is trying to say,' Jenn turned her head towards Randy, whose blue, mesmerising eyes were watching her, 'is that we'd like to see you tonight. You do know who we are, don't you?'

Jenn could hear her manager and best friend friend Chris in the background say it was time for break.

Fuck it, she could have fun with this.

'I mean, I'm a huge fan, of course I know who you are.' Jenn smiled innocently, even batting her long, dark eyelashes.

Batista and Randy smugly grinned, as though they were used to hearing this.

'I mean, how often do you come across gay pornstars as popular as you guys?!', Jenn commented sickeningly sweetly, acting totally oblivious.

The grins on their faces fell quicker than a whore's panties and they looked stunned.

'Oh, and uh, have fun on your date!' Jenn said for good measure as she turned her back and handed her notepad to one of the waiters as she walked out.

She threw on her leather jacket over her uniform and as she headed for the door, not noticing that while Batista had a horrified look on his face, another pair of eyes was fixed on her back.

* * *

Someone had enjoyed their first encounter with the pretty and gutsy waitress from Miso, and they were determined to make sure it wouldn't be their last.

Vince McMahon was a man who didn't like to be kept waiting.

He looked out the window in his sleek office, wondering what could Paul Nowakowski of Talent Relations possibly want on this quiet Sunday night.

The Polish man had urged him to meet him and said he had something to show him.

It was a slightly stressful time.

Ratings for Raw were slowly going down but Smackdown was just plummeting. Undertaker was out injured, Lesnar was pursuing other projects, other superstars were taking much needed time off and story lines in general seemed to not be working their magic as usual for some reason. It probably didn't help that all the little PG, kiddy moments were watering down moments which should have been electrifying. From the personal insults to intergender matches, it felt as though his great empire went from gleeful swearing and bra and panties matches to 'poopy' being the worst ever insult, constant tag-team matches and title-challenging matches becoming much less frequent than they should.

Maybe it was time to change the creative team, but again?

Before Vince would think about this, he heard a click of door being opened and shut. A soft built man with a thick moustache entered the room.

'What's this about Paul? Linda was expecting me home an hour ago.' Vince grumbled as he sat down in his chair.

Paul took the seat opposite him, his New York accent thick as ever.

'Look Vince, I wouldn't have asked for your time urgently if I didn't think it was important - in fact, I would've left it until tomorrow… But you gotta see this!'

Vince furrowed his eyebrows. It wasn't often his Talent relations man behaved like this and he watched as Paul took out his phone, fumbling with it until he finally pushed the device under Vince nose.

'Look.' Paul urged, his eyes were determined the McMahon man see this.

He watched the video, taking in every detail. From the soft and feminine but toned body with the breath-taking face to the effortless and smooth movements as she slammed a man into the table.

A sudden smirk lit up on Vince McMahon's face as if he just had a genius idea.

'I think I know how we'll get the ratings back up, Paul'.

* * *

'Chris, raspberries and prawns don't go together. They just don't. '

'Jenn, I didn't ask for your opinion. I asked that you try it.'

'You realise the two go hand-in-hand, right?'

'… Shut-up. Just eat the damn thing already.'

Jenn sighed and put the weird contraption in her mouth, chewing. She wrinkled her nose and was tempted to spit it in Christopher's face. She spat it in a napkin nearby.

'Dude, I think you should stick to being a manager, honestly. Leave the cooking to the chefs.'

Christopher sighed exasperatedly.

'It can't have been that bad.' Before taking a prawn into his mouth and having a similar reaction to Jenn.

'Okay, that may have been ambitious'.

'You think?' Jenn laughed.

It was Monday morning and past the peak time of customers rushing in for coffees and bagels. There were a couple customers left but there was mainly clearing up of dishes to do. Jenn picked up the last dishes and headed to the kitchen, ignoring the main doorbell tinkling as another customer arrived. She set them down in the sink to soak for Rafael to wash once he was back from his break. Jenn went back out and approached the new customer who had arrived. He looked to have been in conversation with Christopher, but not as though he was complaining.

'Jenn, this man wanted to talk to you…' Christopher said, looking confused as she was.

She raised her eyebrows. Jenn had never seen this man before. He was neither slim nor fat but between. There were traces of grey in his otherwise brown hair, a thick moustache almost covering his upper lip. The man reached his hand out towards Jenn.

'Good morning, I'm Paul Nowakowski. Jenn Haruno, am I right?'

Jenn nodded and shook his hand. She shot a look to Christopher who put his hands up and walked towards another customer. Jenn and Paul sat down at a nearby table.

'Look, I'm not gonna beat around the bush.' She raised her eyebrow at him.

'Saturday night, you were at old man Kristofferson's bar, right?'

She nodded, having no idea where this was going.

'A friend of mine was also there and recorded your uh, little fight.'

Jenn's eyes widened a fraction before composing and collecting herself.

'Look, if it's about what happened to Gene, he had that coming.' she said in a calm voice. 'He's always giving those poor Kristoffersons grief, so if you're gonna arrest me, I suggest you do it now.'

'Arrest ya? Why would I do that?', Paul chuckled.

'I never told you what I do, did I? I'm in charge of Talent Relations at the WWE. I'm not here to arrest you toots, I'm here to offer you a deal.'

Jenn blinked.

'This is some kind of joke right?', she replied dryly. 'Any moment now, the camera crew's gonna come out and you're gonna shout 'Punkd!', right?'

'Oh no, this is no joke.' He replied seriously.

'And how do I know that?' she replied.

Paul didn't say anything but Jenn watched as his brown eyes flickered from her eyes to over her shoulder. She heard the doorbell tinkling followed by footsteps. Jenn furrowed her eyebrows and turned.

Vince McMahon had entered the building.

Jenn's mouth had opened slightly. It was obvious the man was ageing but his build was as firm as ever and his eyes shiny. He was wearing a dark coat over his business suit and he took off the scarf around his neck and reached for a chair between the two. He sat down and nodded at Paul before looking at Jenn. He offered a polite smile and reached out to shake her hand.

'Vince McMahon. I'm sure Paul's been filling you in on the deal that we're interested in', he said to Jenn before asking for a coffee to a waiter who had approached their table.

'Aw Vince, the girl think's we're playing, kiddin' around', Paul replied amused.

'Does she now?' Vince replied, seeming equally amused.

'Look, I'm honoured that you're here Mr McMahon, I am. But I don't understand why you would offer me a deal, any deal in fact!' She protested, confused.

'Look', he replied in his deep voice. 'Paul and I saw that video of you beating that man like it was nothing. It's obvious you've had training of some kind.'

Which was true, Jenn had done a mixture of things since high school but gave it up a couple of years ago, yet it obviously stuck.

'You have what it takes to be a diva.'

Jenn cringed inwardly at the last word. She was far from anything like a Diva. Vince took a few sips of his coffee that had arrived.

'What we're offering', Paul said. 'Is a month or so in developmental so you can learn the small tricks of the trade 'cause that's all you need to do really. Other than that, you already have the build, the skills, the face and it looks like you have a mean left hook!'

Jenn was speechless. It wasn't that long ago that she wanted to be a medic and now here she was being offered to become a professional female wrestler!

'I… I don't know what to say.' She replied.

'Well, when you do,' Vince said, reaching into his blazer pocket, 'Come to this address and let me know. Just tell my secretary your name and she'll send you right up.' He handed her a small card.

'I'll uh, think about it.'

'Good.' Vince said.

Both men got up, gathered their things and stood up. Vince gave Jenn one final look.

'…I think you'd be a very valuable asset to the company, Miss Haruno. And it's not exactly an experience you can get anywhere else...' He looked pointedly around the restaurant.

The two men headed to the door and waved at Jenn and Christopher who waved back. She watched them as they got into their expensive cars.

'Was that Vince McMahon? What did they want?'

Jenn didn't say anything as she watched the cars drive off, the business card still in her hand.

* * *

'Mom…?' Jenn softly said, her head peeking through her mother's doorway.

Jenn's mom, Ayame, picked her head up off of her desk. Her eyes softened straight away once seeing her oldest daughter having come from work. She didn't even hear her come in.

Jenn could see the bags under her mother's eyes and even though leaving their father should have meant less stress, there was more as it meant they would be having less income hence the need for Jenn to work. Jenn frowned slightly at the almost overflowing piles of bills, practically covering the desk.

'How was work?' Ayame smiled.

Jenn realised her Mom wasn't going to talk about the overdue bills to her, not now anyway.

'It was good. We had a lot of customers today and Chris tried this crazy recipe, 'Jenn giggled, shaking her head.

Ayame laughed.

'That Chris - I won't be surprised if he ends up giving himself food poisoning someday'.

It was nice to hear Ayame laugh… It had been a while.

'Mom… How bad is it today?' Jenn asked, just wanting to know now.

'We'll get through it... Don't worry Jenn, it'll take a while but we'll get there.'

Understanding her Mom wanted to be left alone, Jenn went to her room.

Her mom had told her not to worry but of course she would.

It was proving to be a difficult time, especially where money was concerned.

Her 14 year old sister, like any other teenager, had wanted the latest things but because things were so hard, she actually lied when asked if she wanted it too by friends, waving it off as 'unoriginal'. It hurt Jenn that her sister had to become mature at a young age. She didn't mind but it was sad to see that it was because their father was an asshole and that's what kicked the maturity to come through.

Her mother said the struggle would be for a little longer but for how long? The pay she and her mother got was good but not enough.

Jenn threw herself on her bed and pulled out a small card out of her pocket, looking at it. She hadn't told her Mother about the WWE offer because, hell, she wouldn't know what to say! She didn't know whether or not she was even going to take it up. But the last conversation she had with her, put things into perspective. Jenn looked at the address and times on the card. It was lucky Vincent McMahon was practically a night owl; it would be a long night for the McMahon man.

Jenn Haruno made her decision.

* * *

It was 1:15 in the morning when Vince McMahon received a call from his secretary that a certain Miss Haruno wanted to see him. He was glad she had made her decision so quick. Patiently, he waited for her until he heard a little knock on his door.

'Come in.'

A dark-haired beauty poked her head in and walked in. Mr McMahon gestured for her to sit down in the seat opposite his as he sat in his.

'I'm assuming you've come to a decision, Miss Haruno?'

'Yes, I have… I've decided to take up your offer Mr McMahon.'

Vince grinned. 'Well, we're delighted to have y-'

'But I have some conditions.'

Vince's eyes glistened. 'This is interesting…' He thought. It was rare that someone dared interrupt him, and she had such a hard look in her eyes when speaking to him. He liked this. Showed some guts. Not that he could say the same for some of the other wrestlers.

'… I'm listening.'

 **This is where 'Lady & The Shield' comes in so feel free to make your way there 0:) **

**Hope you liked it! Please leave reviews :)**


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